St.Remy wrote:Considering that last year UChi only gave 5 full scholarships (according to the ABA law school guide) this is going to greatly increase the total amount of scholarship money that they give out.

My rankings prediction is that with NYU's large LSAT gains they'll take spot #5 this year, but next year when Chicago starts spending this $$$ they will regain their top 5 position.

I was thinking the same thing. It's apparently much easier to gain ranking with $$ than with LSAT scores, at least at the high end, due to the per capita expenditure measure. And since Chicago is small....

This is an expendable fund, meaning that they're going to spend the money until it runs out (apparently in three years), and then the scholarship will go away. Kind of unusual for a named scholarship, or at least different from something lasting like the Hamilton.

On the other hand, had they treated it as an endowment with 5% annual returns instead, that would be $500k per year ~= 10 full scholarships per year instead of 60.

Or you could just say that each full scholarship costs $150k (over 3 years) and divide $10m / $150k = ~60.

True. I wonder why Rubenstein chose to front-load the money rather than spread it out over fewer permanent scholarships (other than his stated purpose of attracting similar donations). Ranking purposes, perhaps?

On the other hand, had they treated it as an endowment with 5% annual returns instead, that would be $500k per year ~= 10 full scholarships per year instead of 60.

Or you could just say that each full scholarship costs $150k (over 3 years) and divide $10m / $150k = ~60.

True. I wonder why Rubenstein chose to front-load the money rather than spread it out over fewer permanent scholarships (other than his stated purpose of attracting similar donations). Ranking purposes, perhaps?

Almost certainly. Giving another 10% of the class full rides could definitely help U Chi match NYU's new medians...